


Goodbye Hero

by BlackKittens



Category: Big Hero 6 (2014)
Genre: Angst, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-01
Updated: 2019-07-01
Packaged: 2020-05-31 15:44:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19429066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackKittens/pseuds/BlackKittens
Summary: Hiro is fatally injured on a mission. Luckily, he's not as alone as he thinks.





	Goodbye Hero

**Author's Note:**

> This is an idea I had in June of last year (so, June 2018 - or maybe it was May 2018?) and wrote a draft of, but ended up deleting and not publishing. I rewrote it about a month ago and lost inspiration, but I looked it over again, decided it was okay enough, slapped an ending on, and here we are. Sorry if the ending is rushed and repetitive of some of my other works. I hope it's still enjoyable.

This wasn't how it was supposed to end. Hiro was only fourteen; he didn't want to die.

The rest of the team was far away, Baymax included. The enemy had scattered them across the ship yard, alienating everybody from each other. Hiro was all alone. He didn't want to be alone. He needed medical attention; he needed it right away, or he wasn't going to live much longer. The bolt in his side had pierced through his armor in what had to be a major artery, and even without removing it, he could feel his blood rushing down his lap onto his thigh. He didn't want to die. He needed Baymax. He needed a hospital. He needed to get home to Aunt Cass.

 _'Please, please,'_ Hiro begged in his head. _'Please let me go home. Please let someone find me. I don't want to die yet. Please!'_

There was no point in using his communicator - it was broken inside his cracked helmet. He couldn't scream for help. His voice was shot from a night of yelling orders and on top of that he was terrified this was exactly what the enemy wanted, that he would scream and lure someone to him so he could go in for the next kill. This guy was a creep straight from one of Fred's heaviest, darkest comics, and he'd been trying to kill Big Hero 6 for months now. He was a crafty, self-contradicting one; every time Hiro had thought he'd had him finally figured out, the villain pulled a fast one right under his nose in the other direction, and all of Hiro's plans shattered. Tonight might be his worst shattered plan yet.

 _'Please don't let me die,'_ he begged in his head, frightened of how light his mind was beginning to feel. _'We have to stop this guy. We have to keep the city safe. I have so much I want to do, at school and in life. Please don't let me die. I want to graduate and make Tadashi proud. I want to hug Aunt Cass again, I can't leave her all alone, I'm her only family left. Somebody find me, without HIM finding them. Please, please...'_

Hiro didn't chance moving. He stayed where he was, slumped on the ground against a cargo freight. The last thing he needed was to jolt the bolt and hurt himself more. He was determined to keep as much blood inside of him as possible. But not moving alone wasn't going to keep it there. His thigh was soaked under his armor.

 _'Baymax, please,'_ he implored silently, feeling tears prick his eyes. _'I need you, buddy. Help me. Find me.'_

It wasn't fair, he thought desperately as what felt like hours (but couldn't be) ticked on and his side started to go numb in shock. It wasn't fair. He was only fourteen. His fifteenth birthday was a few months away, was only a week and a half after what would be the end of his first year in college. He just received a grant for his exemplary performance at SFIT. Aunt Cass was so happy, so, so, happy for him. And he and his friends had been defending the people of San Fransokyo the best they could all the while. Hiro wasn't ready to leave yet. Not by a long shot.

He didn't want to die. He had too do much to do, accomplish, achieve before he did. He wasn't even fifteen yet.

It was getting harder to breathe. Hiro felt his lungs constrict with each inhale and weigh his chest down with every exhale. His head was getting lighter and lighter. His time was running out. He wondered if he'd pass out before dying. He almost hoped so, if it would (impossibly) give him more time to be found. He'd love nothing more than to shut his eyes and wake up in a sunny hospital room, Baymax and his gang of friends at his side. Aunt Cass as well, their secret identities be damned. He just wanted to live. Hiro had never been so scared in his life.

His eyes drooped. _'I'm here. Somebody help me, please. I don't want to die, please, please..."_

All he'd wanted to do was make Tadashi proud. He'd wanted to do right by him, go to school and use his brain for good rather than profit. He'd wanted his legacy to go on, to one day get a line of Baymaxes into the world. He'd wanted to honor his memory, by helping people in any and every way he knew how. Hiro had never thought he'd have less than a year to do that. Not once did he think he'd follow his brother less than a year after his death.

 _'I guess this is my fire,'_ he thought mournfully, as still no one came to his rescue. Breathing began to hurt. _'I'm sorry. I'm sorry everybody. I wish it wasn't like this. I should have planned better. I'm sorry.'_

Hiro's breath hitched as he felt hands slide across his back and under his knees, raising him up.

 _'Baymax - ?'_ was his first thought, but no - the hands were too warm, too solid to be inflated vinyl.

The arms holding him brought him close to a black, brown, and green clothed torso, cradling him gently. Hiro realized he himself was dressed in only his under clothes, not his armor. He froze, and hesitantly looked up at the figure holding him.

Tadashi, hatless, smiled ruefully at him. "Hey, little brother. I'm here."

Hiro's mind went blank. He tried to turn his head, to look back at where he had been slumped over against the freight, but Tadashi quickly whirled around.

"Hey, hey, hey!" he admonished. "Don't look. I made that mistake when I died, and trust me, you don't want to see. God, Hiro..."

Hiro brought his eyes back to Tadashi's face. His big brother was smiling, but he was also on the verge of tears. Tadashi's grip tightened, and he pressed his forehead against Hiro's.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered. "I never meant to leave you. And I never meant to - meant for this - I'm so, so, _so_ proud of you and everything you've done, as a hero and a student, I'm - I didn't want to meet you again so early, I'm so, so, _so_ sorry for letting this happen, Hiro."

Hiro's mind reeled.

So that it then.

He was already dead.

"T-Tadashi...?" he asked, not sure what he was asking.

He didn't want to be dead. He'd rather be passed out. He still had to graduate, had so much to invent, so many people to save. What about Aunt Cass? How was she going to react to his death? Or the gang, Baymax - ?

Oh, god, he was _actually dead._

"It's gonna be okay now, Hiro," his older brother assured him, rubbing his forehead softly against his. "We're gonna be okay. The others, too. I'm so sorry. I know this is hard. Believe me, I know."

Hiro opened his mouth to speak, but only a whine came out. One of his arms shot over Tadashi's shoulder and around his neck, the other grasping for his shirt to hold onto. He pulled away from Tadashi's face bury his own against the crook of his brother's neck. A sob came out.

"I'm not ready yet," he cried, finally finding his voice. "I'm not ready to be dead. Tadashi, big brother, please...!"

Tadashi hugged him so tight Hiro' ribs hurt. He didn't know why, since he technically didn't have ribs anymore. After all, weren't they in his body over there, behind Tadashi?

"I'm sorry," his brother apologized again. "I know it hurts. I know how horrible this feels. But it'll be okay, Hiro; it'll be okay, little brother. You're not alone, and everyone else is safe. I've been watching over you guys, with Mom and Dad and Grandma and Grandpa Hamada - they'll be okay. Aunt Cass, Baymax, Wasabi, Gogo, Honey Lemon, and Fred - it'll all right. I promise."

"What about -? What about - ?" Hiro hiccupped, unable to force the words out.

He was dead. He'd been killed. There was the rest of the team's safety, their survival -

"I told you," Tadashi answered quietly, seemingly able to read his thoughts, "I've been watching all of you guys. It'll be all right for them. You were the only real target tonight, Hiro. That bastard was only after you tonight. He left a while ago, when it was clear you were...not going to make it in time to be found."

Hiro's heart lurched. He felt cold. So cold. He didn't know if that was a symptom of being dead, but he sobbed more into Tadashi's neck, unable to hold it back.

He was grieving. He was grieving for himself, the life he'd had and should have had, for his aunt, for his friends, for Baymax - for everyone. His heart felt like it had been violently torn out of his chest. He just wanted to go back.

"It'll be okay, Hiro," Tadashi soothed, a few tears of his own mixing with Hiro's as it fell off his jaw and down his neck. "I'm here. The rest of our family's waiting for us - I wanted to come alone - but I'm here for you. I'll help you, and I'll never leave you alone again, all right? I swear, Hiro, everything will be okay now." His voice cracked towards the end.

Despite it all, that did make a little part of Hiro, under all the grief, feel a bit better. At least he'd have Tadashi. Even if he was completely falling apart otherwise, at least he had Tadashi to hold him again. It was enough.


End file.
